Problems in Reading Learning and Effective Approaches

賀文婷

Abstract： This article discusses the issue related to problems in reading learning and effective approaches. Reading can not only help us catch the effective information as well as possible， but also expand our English vocabulary and improve the ability of comprehension. So we must pay more attention to it. However， we always have many problems in Reading Learning. In this article， I analyze the problems that we often meet in reading， and also list some effective approaches.

Glossary： reading information topic word speed

Introduction

Many of us have difficulty in finishing the articles in the time teacher suggest. No matter what type of reading material we all want to read and understand each word. Furthermore， we seem to be hard to go on reading and understanding the text with many new words . Like these problems， we still have a lot， but we have few good methods to deal with them. In fact， there are many ways of working into the reading and also improve it.

I. Look ahead and check for information in advance.

Before you read a book or an article in detail， you can use only the title﹑the table of contents、the index and the illustrative. Discuss what we think the subject is， what the pictures tells us about the subject， and how we feel about the subject Those will tell us a great deal about the text， you will set a purpose for your reading and will get a better idea of what your reading is about in advance.

II. Determine the topic and the main idea.

1. A topic is the general subject of the sentences in a paragraph or that of the paragraphs in a text. Finding out the topic of what you are reading is an important stop toward understanding subject information. Knowing the topic builds a base of comprehension， which leads to further understanding about the text. In fact， we should know that the main idea is the general statement the author makes about the topic. Generally， the main idea describes or “covers” the details in the paragraph.

2. Sometimes， the first sentence does not have the feel of a “main idea” sentence. The next most likely place to look for the topic sentence is the last sentence of the paragraph， or they may place it in the middle， or leave it unstated. In that event， you must find out the main idea yourself. Whats more， the opening and closing paragraphs of a passage or chapter are particularly important.

III. Guessing meanings of words.

When you come across a new word in your reading， before looking it up in a dictionary. Very often you can guess its meanings from the sentences or words around. There are often specific words in a sentence or paragraph that can help you determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

1.Synonym clues can help you. A sentence with a difficult word often contains a more familiar word to make it easy to understand. Antonym clues also like that. Especially words or phrases like “or”、 “but”、 “while” and “on the other hand” often signal antonym clues. That will make you understand the new words easier.

2.The other types of guessing meanings of words are example clues and word association.

IV. Theres another problem that we often meet is the speed of reading.

We are often asked to do the fast reading. Actually， in our life， read something quickly is also essential. But we seem to be not good at this.

1. There are two ways of fast reading. They are Skimming and Scanning.

1.1 Skimming is a type of partial reading that can be used as a survey. Its purpose is to find only the main idea and major details. Run your eyes over the article to get a general idea of what it is about. Dont read all of the words.

1.2 Scanning is a type of partial reading that can be used to find answers to specific questions.

2.Nearly all “speed reading” courses have a “pacing” element--some timing device which lets us know how many words a minutes we are reading. You can do this simply by looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes and noting down the page number of words per page for the particular book you are reading. A friend can help by timing you. Pace yourself every 3 or 4 days， you should soon notice your habitual rate creeping up. That is very important for us to improve our ability of reading.

V. Conclusion

We must be clear that the reading come from different types of material， such as fiction﹑magazine、newspaper and so on. They cover a wide subject range， which will help us expand the vocabulary and of course improve the reading skill. So wed better set aside time each day to read. The more time spend reading， the better the results. I believe， well surely make a great progress so long as we use the effective approaches and practice reading as much as possible. That is “Where there is a will， there is a way”.

Bibliography：

[1]張 Ten Steps toward Faster Reading and Better Comprehension 中國宇航出版社 2002年9月第1版

[2]蘇敏 New Practice English Series 國防工業(yè)出版社 2001年10月第1版